


Rock-A-Bye (four kids they never had and the one they did)

by fairy_tale_echo



Category: Social Network (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Babies!, Fix-It, Kid Fic, M/M, Reconciliation, kids!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-12
Updated: 2011-06-12
Packaged: 2017-10-20 08:51:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/210952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairy_tale_echo/pseuds/fairy_tale_echo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hush-a-bye-baby, in the treetop...</p><p>(or: <i>Annalise, Elliot, Maria, Wyatt, and...</i>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Annalise Eowyn Zuckerberg

**Author's Note:**

> This is angsty and silly and sad and sweet and (out of necessity) has many OCs and takes places all over canon and, of course, is full of happy endings. Oh, and there's some shout-outs to some beloved fandom AUs towards the end, see if you can spot 'em!

Eduardo meets Mark for the first time at a AEPi mixer. There's something about the awkward guy in the corner who looks a little too frazzled to be at a frat party that calls out to Eduardo.

After a few seconds of random chatting, Eduardo notices Mark has a weird stain on his left shoulder. "Hey dude, is that -" he can't help but point.

"Semen?" the guy says, a smirk all over his voice. "Don't I wish? No, that's baby formula and spit-up. Guess I didn't even notice it. It's from my little girl - I mean, my baby. I have a baby."

All Eduardo can think to say sounds so stupid in retrospect. "Like, a _human_ baby?"

Mark laughs and that's really the moment their friendship is sealed.

\--

"So, go figure. End of my junior year, seriously the first time I ever had sex. I was so excited, right? I didn't even notice the condom had broken until afterward. She decided she wanted to keep it and I guess I did too. Then I saw her and it was true love anyhow. She was born in January and here we are, nine months later. I got to pick out her middle name and she's kinda the coolest little person in the world. Her Mom's at BU and both our parents moved out here because no human alive can resist Miss Annalise and my mom said they might as well do something good with being retired and rich."

"Are you _married_ or anything?" Somehow the possibility of that seems weirder to Eduardo than the fact that this 18 year old Harvard freshman has a baby.

"Nah - turns out I didn't even like girls. Which I knew anyway, right, but I thought maybe if I tried _really_ hard...well, this wasn't what I was expecting. But that's how the best stuff happens sometimes, right?"

And when he smiles at Eduardo this time, Eduardo doesn't even notice the spit-up.

\--

"So let me get this straight," Dustin says, his tone incredulous. "You are going to date the guy from the AEPi mixer who lives off campus with his parents and his _infant child_ and you think we should meet because he, as you so elegantly phrased it, 'knows computers.'"

Eduardo nods. "Are you coming or what?"

\--

He meets Annalise on the second date. She's so fucking _tiny_ ,

Eduardo stands over her crib and marvels. "Mark, look at all her hair," he whispers.

"I know," Mark says, running his fingers affectionately through her thick brown curls. "it's almost the best part."

"What could be better?" Eduardo asks, trying and failing to keep the affection out of his voice.

Annalise rolls over and opened her eyes; her big, blue eyes. She smiles at Mark and Mark smiles at her and Eduardo reaches out and holds Mark's free hand.

"Oh," Eduardo sighs.

That's all it takes. He's in love.

\--

Over the summer, thanks to watching the weather, Eduardo makes more than enough money for them to live on. When sophomore year starts Eduardo, Mark, and Annalise move into a small apartment together. Erica and the grandparents are frequent guests. Eduardo's been disowned but he doesn't care, he has his own family to look out for now.

Annalise is almost two the night Mark hacks the facebooks of every house on campus.

When Eduardo comes into the living room after finally getting Annalise down to sleep, he finds Mark and Dustin huddled over Mark's computer. Chris is watching Shark Week and rolling his eyes.

Mark looks at Eduardo seriously. "Tell the baby I don't condone these actions, but Uncle Dustin is heartbroken and he needs our help."

\--

Annalise plays on the carpet in the house in Palo Alto. "I gotta go back to school, Mark," Eduardo says seriously.

"We have to stay here, Wardo," Mark says just as seriously.

There's no answer. There's no way out.

Annalise throws a block. She holds her arms out, reaching towards Mark and Eduardo. "Pai! Daddy!" she demands, as if it’s just that easy.

Eduardo and Mark look at each other and then down at their daughter.

"Stanford is it," Wardo says, leaning down to pick her up.

Mark smiles as Annalise laughs.

\--

Annalise is six, almost seven, when her fathers finally get married in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Though her Daddy is a dropout and her Pai is an alumnus of Stanford, they hold a special place in their hearts for Cambridge and Harvard since, after all, it’s where they met.

Annalise is the star of the show.  She’s the flower girl and she makes a mess, dumping all the flowers out immediately and then running down the aisle barreling straight for her Pai and Daddy, but no one seems to mind. Her Daddy even picks her up and holds her during the ceremony.

\--

"Who said this would never work? We're billionaires and we have the perfect life," Mark says smugly during the first dance, as he hold Eduardo tightly and Chris, Dustin, Sean, and mother Erica clap and dance in a circle around Annalise who is twirling with joy.

" _Almost_ perfect," Eduardo teases.

Mark raises his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"We need an Anakin to keep our little girl company."

Eduardo smiles at his husband and pulls him close for a kiss.


	2. Elliot Parker Saverin

"Going to New York is fucking _stupid_!"

They've had this argument a thousand times in the last month, as Mark pushes for Wardo to come to California and stubbornly, almost cryptically, Wardo insists he has to work on advertisers and an internship in New York. Now they're standing inches apart in Eduardo's dorm room and screaming at each other yet again.

"You need to be in Palo Alto with us! You said yourself that they needed to see Facebook there and now you're not going to _be_ there! You don't have a single reason to be in New York!" Mark's red-faced and shouting, angrier than he thought possible.

Eduardo has gone chalk white and, for once, doesn't look like he's going to yell back. "Christy's pregnant, Mark," he practically whispers, not willing to meet Mark's eyes. He sits down on the edge of his bed. "She told me in New York - she's due in September and she's gonna keep the baby even though I think she kind of hates me and - fuck, Mark. I have to get a to start making connections and I have to get a job lined up, a real job, and I have to get some money back from Facebook, I know it's the wrong time for advertisers but - a baby, Mark."

Eduardo puts his head in his hands and closes his eyes. Eduardo waits for Mark to tell him he'll get him his money back and that he's out of Facebook. Instead, there's only quiet.

"Well shit," Mark says, sitting down beside Eduardo on the bed and nudging him lightly on the shoulder. "it's even more important for you to come to California now. We'll have to work twice as hard to get tech investors interested up-front."

"But I -" Eduardo dares to look up at Mark.

"We'll get Christy to move out to California and, well, we'll think of something," Mark's voice is surprisingly gentle. "C'mon, Wardo. Let us - let me - help you. I want being CFO to be your _real_ job."

He nudges him again and Wardo leans into the touch. "Yeah," he says, cautiously, hopefully. "yeah, I want that too."

\--

Christy says she'll come to California. She’ll have to drive out instead of fly but, in all, it's not a hard sell; she's not currently on the best terms with her parents. She's not as happy about moving into a house with Eduardo, Mark, Dustin, and two Facebook interns, but Mark just finds another house to rent, this one with a small guest house just for her. It's more expensive but Eduardo doesn't have New York expenses to worry about now, so it balances out.

"Look," Mark says the first night they've moved in and are sitting around boxes and a futon Dustin found on the street, "I was thinking that maybe we should reach out to Sean Parker. I know you don't like him or whatever but I think -"

Eduardo shrugs. It's funny what knowing that you're responsible for another human life does to your perspective, when you know you’ve got to do your best even with conditions you might not think are ideal. 

"He's got connections we can use. I'd be a shitty CFO if I didn't want to take advantage of that. But, Mark. He's a sketchy dude and I think we want to be careful."

Mark nods. "Fair enough, I'll call him and have him meet us for lunch tomorrow."

\--

Sean still does that weird thing where he's semi hero-worshipping and semi-insulting Mark. Only now Eduardo can acknowledge Sean's behavior for what it actually is: Sean's hitting on Mark. He doesn't just want him for Facebook, he _wants_ him. And realizing that, which he couldn't see that night in New York because he was scared and worried about what Christy had just told him a week before, suddenly lights up everything else in Eduardo's life. _Of course_.

Now that Eduardo can acknowledge that Sean is hitting on Mark and it makes Eduardo uncomfortable? It's much easier to like Sean and see a possibility of working with him. Because Sean might _want_ that, but as long as Eduardo has something to say about it, he's not going to have it.

\--

"We can definitely work with him," Eduardo says that night over carry out vegetable lo mien.

"Really?" Mark's face lights up.

"Yup. I think that together we can keep a check on the sketchier parts of his personality and use the good parts and the connections to our advantage."

"Oh man, Wardo, I knew if you just listened to him you'd see that -"

Eduardo waves his hand. "That night in New York, I - I see now I was just..." Eduardo trails off, loses his courage for a minute. But Christy arrives tomorrow. Tonight's the night. "I was jealous, that's all."

Mark pauses with a chopstick full of lo mein halfway to his mouth. "Jealous of what?" He asks faintly.

"You know of what," Eduardo says, teasing just a little.

"Of - um - uh - you mean -"

"Jealous that you might want to be with him and not with me," Eduardo says plainly.

" _With_ you?"

And Eduardo thinks of his child. He's going to have a child. And he thinks about everything he wants to do _right_ that his Dad did wrong. He wants to tell the truth and take risks and not be afraid.  He wants to be open and he wants to encourage his kid to go after the things he or she wants, even if there’s a chance of failure.

"Aren't you tired of pretending there's nothing between us, Mark? Aren't you tired of the bullshit? Are we going to change the world or what? Let's do something that counts."

The lo mein slips from Marks' chopsticks and he doesn't move until Eduardo is only inches away from his face. Then he drops the chopsticks and leans forward.

Their first kiss is in their living room in Palo Alto over vegetable lo mein, Mark tastes like broccoli and soy sauce and the secrets of the world.

"You never had to - don't be jealous," Mark whispers into Eduardo's ear.

Eduardo isn't anymore.

\--

"Well that explains a whole fucking lot," Christy says when she finds them together in Mark's bed.

"Hey, Christy! Welcome to California!" Mark says cheerily.

\--

That night they sit by the pool and Christy holds his hand and says, as gently as she can, "I can't raise this baby, Eduardo."

"But -"

"My parents, Harvard - it'll cost me everything. I should have - but I wasn't in a good place then and, anyway, here we are. We have the rest of the summer to decide. But I know I can't - I can't do this. I'm not ready to be a mother and I need to concentrate on my therapy and meds and it would be more selfish to try to raise this baby before I'm ready. I'm _so_ sorry."

He rubs her stomach, feels his son kick. "Don't be sorry. We'll - we'll -"

Mark, who has been pretending not to eavesdrop through the sliding glass door can't keep it up any longer. He slides the door all the way open.

"We'll keep him."

\--

"Mark, we can't have a _baby_ in this house, in this life, with you coding 26 hours a day and me trying to -"

"You already _have_ a baby, Wardo, we're just going to raise him. I'll - I'll let Dustin do more programming, maybe we’ll get a new intern.  And you'll - you'll let Sean arrange more meetings. We'll give them more shares. We started Facebook, OK, but we're not - we're not alone.  We can make this work. This - it'll work. "

And the fucking craziest part is? Eduardo thinks it actually might.

\--

Baby boy Saverin is born four days after Eduardo and Sean secure Peter Thiel's angel investment. Not surprisingly, Sean still has plenty of bottles of champagne around to toast the baby.

He and Eduardo clink glasses. "Hey man," Eduardo says sincerely, "I just want to thank you for all the help these last few months. We couldn't have -"

Sean punches his arm lightly. "No problem. I made a few dollars myself, you know. And I needed - I needed to do something good, you know? You ever felt that? That you needed to do good or something?  God, that sounds fucking stupid."

"No, it sounds exactly right. I know _just_ what you mean."

Sean takes a swallow of champagne and looks away. "I can't believe you ever thought I liked your boyfriend," he points to Mark who is laughing with Chris and Dustin.

"You know, I actually owe you some thanks for that too, now that you mention it."

"Well, then I guess you're gonna have to name the kid after me, right?" He’s kidding, Eduardo knows, as Sean smiles and raises his glass.  But it doesn’t seem so funny.

That night, Mark agrees that Parker is the perfect middle name for the little boy they've decided to name Elliot. (after Mark.)

\--

Mark and Eduardo miss the million member party because Elliot has colic and they're taking turns staying up all night walking him across the floor.

Facebook has a million members, investors are lining up around the block, and this thing- every element of this thing, not _just_ Facebook but this crazy idea that two 20 year old Internet upstart entrepreneurs could fall in love and raise a baby while building a company with the help of their friends - is _going to succeed beyond their wildest dreams_ , because Mark wanted to help and insisted Eduardo come out to California and because, then, Eduardo was brave enough to kiss him over noodles and they decided to _try_.

"I had no idea the baby was going to be such good training for hackathons," Mark says affectionately, handing Elliot over to Eduardo when it's his turn.

Eduardo lifts Elliot into his arms and bounces him a few times. Mark presses a kiss to the baby's forehead and grins at Eduardo.

And even though their son is wailing at the top of his lungs and none of them have slept more than an hour in the past two days, Eduardo doesn't recall ever being happier.


	3. Maria Ortiz

Mark has, like, a lot of fucking money. A lot. He could lose a million dollars a day for the rest of his life and still not run out of money. Do you have any idea how much money that is? So instead of losing it, he starts giving it away as fast as he can.

Because he is not an asshole, OK? And he's done _trying_ to be an asshole. (which, yeah, maybe that's what he was subconsciously trying to do for a long time: _show everyone what a bad-ass genius you are, how you don't suffer fools, how the greatness in you will rise above. Show them how you don't need anyone or anything._ That's sort of asshole-ish and, well, it kinda makes you feel like shit, in the end.)

He lures Marilyn Delpy away from Sy's firm and appoints her head of his charitable giving initiative. He takes [the giving pledge](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503983_162-20025110-503983.html) and he starts giving away money like he really means it.

\--

You'd think that would get him out of having to actually attend things like charity dinners but, really, it just makes him have to go to more so people can pitch him new charities AND celebrate his largess. So, that sucks, but most times he doesn't mind so much; he makes quick appearances, smiles and nods, and cuts out. Then he runs into Eduardo at the open bar at some charity event and Mark suddenly hates that he has to be there at all.

There they are: just staring at each other in silence and no one seems to have noticed but they will, they might, and they'll certainly notice if Mark turns and walks away or if Eduardo does so Mark had better do something.

"Um, hello," he says, nodding at Eduardo.

"The man of the hour," Eduardo says, his voice oddly sharp. "I didn't realize you were going to be one of tonight's honorees."

The "or I wouldn't have come" doesn't need to be said.

Mark shrugs. "I just gave some money but, anyway, it's a good cause."

Eduardo's fingers tighten around his glass. He gives Mark a rueful smile. "You give a lot of money these days, I notice."

"There's a lot of good causes," Mark tries to keep his tone neutral and calm.

Eduardo tosses back his drink in one long gulp and gives out a harsh bark of laughter. "Yeah, well, here's some free advice for the great philanthropist who suddenly loves to give. Money is just _money_. You should try giving something that _matters_."

He sets his glass down with a clunk and walks away.

\--

"Hey Marilyn, all this money I give away. What does it do?"

Marilyn looks like she's still recovering from the shock of Mark showing up in her office at all, much less asking about his charity. He's told her to give as much as she wants wherever she thinks is best and he doesn't ask many questions.

"Um - well, it does a lot of things. You support global groups and small local projects and you have a special interest in green initiatives and tech initiatives, obviously and - Mark, are you alright?"

"Find me something local and something related to tech. I want to volunteer."

He's walking out as Marilyn calls frantically after him. "Mark! Mark, a little direction please! What do you want to -"

He doesn't turn back.

\--

That's how Mark starts teaching a basic programming class at a Boys and Girls Club in Newark.

"[Newark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark,_California) is the closest to needy there is in this area. So you built this Boys and Girls Club," Marilyn him during their facility tour. Newark's about an hour's drive from Palo Alto, on the other side of the Bay.

"You paid for all of it, including this amazing, state-of-the-art computer lab. The only problem is they're not sure what to do with the lab besides let the kids get on Facebook. But they have students who want to know -"

"Perfect," Mark says. "Have the director make up a roster: 12 and up, those with serious interest only, and those with the highest degree of need. I'll start in a week."

\--

The thing is: Mark wants to do something that _matters_. The thing is: Mark doesn't want to be the guy who makes it just about _money_. That was never who he was. And if _having_ money was incidental then _giving_ it shouldn't be.

And maybe the realest thing is, and Mark usually ignores this part, but sometimes it was like Wardo was his conscience. ( _"We're ranking girls." - "You mean other students?_ \- he hadn't needed to say anything else, because that got it all across, just the right blend of consideration and judgment.) And if your conscience says you should do something that matters and that thought sticks in your head in a way you can't get out? You should listen, even if your conscience seemed like it hated you and was a little drunk on scotch.

\--

The classes are actually fun and Mark's actually a good teacher: it reminds him of messing around with his first programs, seeing what he could make the computers do. He likes the sharing the most.

The press gets wind of it and they come wait outside the first few times but Mark gives a bland statement and then it's a non-story. Mark just makes sure the class is closely restricted by actual need, age, and talent even after the "Mark Zuckerberg teaches kids computers!" buzz goes around for a few days.

And it was those close restrictions, specifically the one about age, that made Mark almost miss out on Maria.

\--

One day when Mark shows up for class Jack, the site director, greets him with a small, serious girl at his side. She has long black hair pulled into a high ponytail and light brown skin. She also has huge, brown eyes that are staring at Mark with what almost seems like a challenge. Her eyes remind him of - well, anyway, huge brown eyes.

"Mark, this is Maria Ortiz. She just turned eight but she really wants to take your class. She's a computer whiz, always messing around with the machines and, well, I think she'd be a great -"

"Hey Maria," Mark says in what he hopes is a kind voice. "It's cool you're learning about computers, but this is an older kid class. You just keep trying and soon it can be your turn."

She rolls her eyes and walks out without another word.

The next week the Mark arrives to find center's computers have all been rendered useless by a virus. While it takes him almost an hour to crack it, a clever Trojan Horse worm, it only takes him five minutes to figure out who did it.

Maria stands in the doorway with her hands on her hips, her eyes lit up with pleasure in a way that seems almost familiar to Mark.

He finds himself unable to keep from smiling back. "Point taken, kid, you're in the class."

\--

Jack had no idea what Maria was capable of. She head and shoulders above the other students. She actually, cliche though it is, reminds Mark of himself at that age. She can wire in and work on an elementary program with a single-minded focus most people wouldn't believe an eight year old was capable of. She makes intuitive logic leaps and likes challenges.

One day when Maria is bouncing off the walls with too much energy Mark finds himself saying "Have you ever thought about learning to fence?"

So, then there's fencing lessons to go with the computer class and, well, more often than not, Mark ends up coming in early and staying late to work with her. They talk about computers and networks and system administration and how Mark invented Synapse and Maria is working on a Facebook app that will let you track your wardrobe and share virtual outfits with friends.

They work well together in silence but there's also time, every week, to share a story about school or Facebook or what Mark was like as a kid or even that snobby girl Madison who thinks she's so great just because she has an iPod touch and won't let Maria sit at her table at lunch because everything about her is "old."

And, yeah, fine, then Mark buys Maria an iPad. But, really, it's for school. So are all the clothes and shoes he has Marilyn pick out. And when he gives them to her, Maria throws her arms around Mark's neck so he picks her up (just so he won't have to bend over, really) and she cries with happiness and keeps saying "Thank you, Mark, thank you, thank you!" And in that moment Mark understands, fiercely, what the phrase _Money is just money_ means.

\--

 _Abuelita wasn't even sick!_ Maria howled through her tears.

Mark rocked Maria back and forth (she was too big to be sitting in his lap, so the rocking was a little awkward, but it felt right to have her there while she cried) and tried to sooth her.

Maria's grandmother _hadn't_ been sick. She was just old. Maria never knew her father and her mother had overdosed when Maria was two. She'd been raised by her grandmother, who hadn't been sick but still didn't wake up one morning, leaving Maria with no one to take care of her.

Almost no one.

\--

Mark knows what he wants to do. He just doesn't know if it's the right thing. It's times like this he needs a conscience. And, usually, when he thinks that his pride or fear or embarrassment keeps him from reaching out to the person who always helped him the most with that. But now? Now all that matters is doing the right thing for Maria, so the rest of that falls away and before he knows it the phone is ringing and he doesn't really expect him to actually answer but -

"Mark," Eduardo says, his voice cool, "this had better be good."

"Eduardo - I - I need you to help me figure out if I should adopt an eight year old girl."

There's a moment of silence and Mark is afraid Eduardo's hung up. Then he hears him take a deep breath. "Wow. This _is_ good."

\--

Mark keeps trying to get out the story of Maria in a logical fashion but he keeps getting derailed and wandering off topic while talking about how everything has happened. Finally Eduardo interrupts the story about the time Maria got permission to come to her first hackathon and didn't fall asleep until 2 AM and did Eduardo think that was an example of good or bad parenting choices to say, "Fuck it Mark, I'm in town for business. Just give me your damn address and we'll discuss this in person."

\--

So there they are, sitting in Mark's sparse living room, staring awkwardly at each other. "Look, Mark," Eduardo finally breaks the silence. "I wanted to apologize for what happened, for how I behaved, at the Feeding America gala. I wasn't in a great place, I'd just had a blow-up with my Dad and I was a little drunk and I -"

"No. You were right. You - just giving money away, I mean, it's cool. And I'm glad I'm doing it but - you were right." Now that Mark knows Maria he knows how true this is and it doesn't seem hard to admit this to Eduardo.

"I was - dodging having to actually caring and that's - that's not who I want to be. I started volunteering to do something that mattered and...and then there was Maria."

"So tell me about Maria then."

And Mark finds he can't say enough about her. Almost half an hour later he finally pauses. He looks expectantly at Eduardo and sees that Eduardo is giving him a look that feels _familiar_ even though Mark hasn't seen it in years. It's a look of marvel and, yeah, affection. For so long, thinking about Eduardo made Mark's stomach twist up in anxiety but now, after so long, that feeling in the pit of his stomach is much closer to anticipation.

"Oh, Mark," Eduardo says, smiling, a real smile too, "I think you already have your answer, don't you?"

Yeah. He does.

\--

The next day Mark asks Maria if she wants to come live with him. She says yes.

This time when he picks her up and holds her, her face tucked into his neck, she's not the only one crying happy tears.

\--

He calls Eduardo when he gets home that night. "It's gonna happen," he says, still feeling dazed, a smile he can't seem to get off his face.

"Congratulations, Mark. I think you made the right choice," his voice is warm and sincere. "I can tell how much Maria has - I mean how much _you've_ changed. This is going to be fantastic."

"Thank you for all your help, for listening."

"It was nothing. I'm glad - I'm glad we're - I was glad to help."

"Hey, I was wondering if maybe - maybe you wanted to meet Maria before you left for Singapore?" Mark tries to be nonchalant, tries to not let it show in his voice how much he cares about Eduardo's answer.

"I'd love to."

\--

Seeing them side by side Mark can finally admit how much Maria's eyes always reminded him of Eduardo's. It wasn't just that they both had big, brown eyes. It was the way both sets of eyes always looked at him in a way that dared him to be better and, yeah, it was the way they both sometimes looked at him like he'd hung the moon.

He wanted to deserve that look. From Maria and...from Eduardo too. He thinks he'd _always_ wanted that, he just hadn't been aware enough to know it at the time. But it's funny what loving Maria had opened up in him. Maybe that was how love worked.

"Maria," he says, "This is my friend Eduardo." And he smiles at Eduardo when he says "friend" and Eduardo smiles back at him _and_ at Maria.

"Hi, Maria. I've heard so much great stuff about you from Mark."

She beams. "Hi Eduardo, nice to meet you."

"You can call me Wardo," he says. "You should both call me Wardo."

"Wardo, wanna watch me and Mark practice fencing?"

"More than anything," Wardo says a grin on his face that Mark thinks _might_ be as big as the one on his own.

\--

The day before Maria's giant _Star Wars_ themed 9th birthday party ("Remember you know too much fencing to play with the lightsabers like they're toys," Mark cautions her. "With great power comes great responsibility," she responds.) Mark and Eduardo sit down with her and tells her it's time to have a grown-up discussion.

Sometimes Mark can't believe how much he's changed in the year since he first met Maria. He formally adopted her three months ago and she's been living with him for eight months.

("Mark, are you _sure_ you want to adopt a child you only met four months ago?" Marilyn asked.

Mark was sure. Marilyn made it happen.)

Everything in his life has changed. He's that guy that runs out of meetings to make it to soccer games and parent teacher conferences and he wouldn't have it any other way. He still stays up way too late coding and he still works more than he should, but now he has Maria to think about, Maria to consider, Maria to pull him out of it. Maria _and_ Eduardo.

They were in touch from the moment Eduardo met Maria. They talked on the phone almost every day, texted, emailed, and even wrote letters. Eduardo was always sending Maria letters and postcards from all over the world. They also Skyped every Sunday for two months, with Maria demanding Eduardo show her something from Singapore (or wherever in the world he was) and explain where he got it and what it did.

At the end of the eighth chat, Maria wriggled off Mark's lap (it was easier to see get in the webcam frame that way and, well, Mark liked to have his daughter on his lap, even if she was too big) and shouted at the screen as she departed to read _Harry Potter_ , "Wardo, come back home to California!" She waved and blew him a kiss.

Mark felt lucky that, unlike Wardo, he didn't blush. "Mark, do you -"

Without a moment's hesitation, Mark looks across the world and echoes Maria. "Yes. Yes. I've only been saying it for seven years. _Yes_."

This time, Wardo comes.

\--

Maria and Mark and waiting for Wardo's plane and Maria runs to him, arms out. "Wardo!" she shrieks. Wardo picks her up, swings her around to give her a piggyback and she squeals with delight and kicks him with her heels. Wardo and Maria gallop towards him, their eyes lit up with joy, and before Mark can think twice he's leaning in and pressing his lips to Wardo's. Maria giggles and Wardo pushes close.

Mark's not sure life could get any better.

\--

Mark and Eduardo are sitting side by side on the couch and Maria is sitting straight up right across from them up, her complete focus on Mark and Eduardo. (She takes grown-up discussions _very_ seriously.)

"So, bebê," Eduardo begins, using his pet name for her, "Mark and I have two things we want to talk to you about."

Maria nods, gravely.

"I want to come live here, in the house, with you and Mark. I like living in California and I like living nearby, but I want to live here, with you. Do you think that might be OK?"

Mark never sees himself in his daughter more than when she fights the impulse to roll her eyes. "Duh. You practically live here already anyway. So, yeah. Come live with us. It's cool."

"Thank you, Maria," Wardo says, his voice shaking just a little.

Mark knew that Maria would agree to Wardo moving in. Asking her was a gesture of respect and a formality. But _this_ part? This part Mark is actually nervous about.

"Wardo and I thought," Mark says, reaching out and grabbing Wardo's hand, "that now that you are going to be nine and have been with us so long - you might - you might -"

Wardo gives his hand a squeeze and Mark goes on. "You might want to try calling us something besides Mark and Wardo." He pauses and watches Maria's face. "You don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable and we won't love you any less, no matter what you want to call us. The most important part for us is that you know that you are always," he gulps and looks at Wardo, who nods encouragingly, love in his eyes, " _our_ daughter. We will respect anything you decide but -" Mark is afraid he's babbling now and he still can't read Maria's expression and what if this was awful and too soon and is going to push her away and -

Maria launches herself at the two of them, tackling them in a hug. "Dad!" She shouts, kissing Mark's cheek. "Papa!" She exclaims, kissing Wardo's cheek.

They squeeze her back, laughing, and then it's just a tangled jumble of hugging and kissing and joy.

Mark has a brief flash of Wardo's sarcastic rejoinder so many months ago _You should try giving something that matters_. And in this perfect moment Mark realizes the secret: you can't _give_ something that matters without getting something that matters _back_.


	4. Wyatt Eduardo Holland

It wasn't weird at all that Mark had a Google alert set up for Eduardo, OK? It wasn't like he was doing something genuinely sketchy like stalking his Facebook. He just - he set it up on night when he was maybe a little buzzed and maudlin, when he didn't want to think he'd never hear another thing about Eduardo ever again. Usually Mark forgot he'd even done it, because he never got any results, because it seemed like Eduardo had really and truly gone off the map.  It had been years since he'd seen him, even from across the room.

One morning though, he got a message saying a story had turned up. That was how he saw Eduardo's sister's obituary.

\--

Letícia was three years older than Eduardo and his only sibling. They were especially close. A picture of Eduardo and Letícia smiling on the beach in São Paulo was the only decoration from home that Eduardo kept up in his room. She was also the only member of Eduardo's family Mark ever met.

She was passing through Boston on her way to New York and came out to visit for a weekend at the start of sophomore year. Mark just assumed that meant they wouldn't see Eduardo but, instead, there was a knock on their suite door early Friday evening.

"Mark!" Dustin shouted from the living room, "pull your head out of code, there's a super-hot girl version of Wardo in our sitting room and she's demanding to see you!"

When Mark came out to the sitting room he saw Eduardo standing, embarrassed, next to a very tall, elegant girl. She was clearly Wardo's sister, but Mark didn't know why Dustin thought she was super-hot. Objectively speaking, Mark thought the features she and Wardo shared, the silky brown hair, the long, graceful neck, the finely shaped hands, looked better on him. (Not that Mark thought about stuff like that.)

Her face lit up when he walked in the room and she rushed over to him and kissed both his cheeks. "Ay, so here's the idiot genius my brother couldn't stop talking about all summer!"

Wardo flushed a deep red at this comment and muttered something under his breath in Portuguese that Mark was pretty sure meant something along the lines of _shut up_.

What he said in English was, "Letty, stop. Mark doesn't like - he doesn't want to hear that."

Letícia waved her brother off. "I told Eddie I couldn't come to Harvard and not meet you, Mark. So, here we are! I'm taking you both out to dinner."

"Hey!" Dustin exclaimed, a giggle in his voice. "Eddie and Letty!"

Wardo's humiliation was growing by the second but Letícia didn't seem to notice. She slung an arm though her brother's. "That's right. The two of us against the world, eh irmão? Now Mark, let's get you dressed. No sweats allowed at dinner."

Mark was in his room changing before he realized he hadn't gotten in a single word, not even a greeting. But here he was, changing into slacks to go to dinner with Wardo and his sister, just as she'd demanded.

That's just the kind of person Letícia was.

\--

They ate an expensive dinner and Letícia told embarrassing stories about Eduardo growing up. She told Mark about Brazil and Florida and asked questions about the programming he did and what he wanted out of life.

In all, it was a good night. When they left him back at Kirkland, Letícia leaned in and hugged Mark and Mark, loose with alcohol, hugged back. "You take care of my brother, you little jerk," she'd whispered teasingly in his ear. Then, more seriously, she said, "I mean it, take care of him."

Mark just hugged her, didn't know how to tell her that he didn't know how to take care of anyone but that, for Wardo's sake, he'd try his best.

\--

 _Letícia Saverin passed away at her home in New York City after a battle with cancer. She is preceded in death by her partner, Adam Holland. She is survived by her brother, Eduardo Saverin, and the love of her life; her two year old son Wyatt._

\--

He went to visit Wardo late that Sunday night after Letícia was on her way to New York.

"Hey _Eddie_ ," he said, smirking.

Wardo just smiled. "You know that's what most people call me, Mark."

"Boring."

"So," Mark walked over to the picture frame on Wardo's desk, tapped it lightly. "Your sister is ... actually pretty awesome."

Wardo's grin grew even wider. "Yeah. She - she liked you. She said... well, anyway, she liked you. Thanks for hanging out with us."

"How could I resist Eddie and Letty?"

"We came up with that when I was 7 and she was 10. It made us, you know, a unit. In our family it was hard - well, we needed to be a unit. It sounds stupid now, I know, but -"

Mark cut him off. "Nah, it's cool."

He's surprised by how much he means it.

\--

As specified in the obituary, Mark donates to St. Jude's in Letícia's name. He figures $5 million is a good start.

He also sends Eduardo a note.

 _Eduardo,_

 _I was so sorry to read about Letícia, I knew how much she meant to you and she was a special person. I donated some money to St. Jude's in her name. My thoughts are with you and her son._

 _-Mark_

He sends it without hesitation. And he thinks that will probably be the end of it. Until he gets a visit from Gretchen.

\--

"You've got to be kidding me," he says as Gretchen strides into her office, her face a grim mask of determination. "When my assistant told me you were here I couldn't believe it was true, so I told her to send you in just so I could see it with my own eyes."

"Believe me," Gretchen grits out, "coming here was not my choice, but Mr. Saver - my client - insisted I deliver this letter."

She holds it out. "I'm to wait while you read it."

Mark sees his name hand-written in unfamiliar printing on the front. He tries to keep his hands steady as he reads.

 _Mark,_

 _Do you remember our dinner back at Harvard? I think about it quite often now that I know I'm dying. Eddie is here, taking care of me and Wyatt and I see - I see, again, his open heart._

 _Eddie was always such a careful, quiet little boy. He had such an open heart, Mark, but he guarded it so fiercely, because in our house open hearts were a sign of weakness. I always saw it, though, even when no one else did._

 _And then there was the summer after freshman year and your name on his lips every other word. Mark this - Mark that. And I thought, maybe, maybe...Eddie's heart was opening for_ everyone _to see._

 _When I met you, when I saw how my brother looked at you while you explained CSS and let your dinner get cold, I understood everything. And I thought I knew how would everything end up._

 _Then you two changed the world and everything between you exploded and Eddie locked his heart up for good._

 _At least until Wyatt came along. The night Wyatt was born, Eddie was at the hospital and Wyatt reached out his hand and held onto his finger and I thought, for the first time in years, I saw Eddie's heart open again._

 _And then I got sick. Adam, Wyatt's dad, died before he knew I was pregnant and our parents, well, our parents won't help. So it's just been me and Eddie and Wyatt. I'm dying, Mark, and I'm leaving my little boy and my little brother and - it's all so fucking stupid and unfair and such a waste._

 _Here's what you don't know - I saw your open heart too, Mark. I saw it that night at dinner and I saw it when my brother's whole face lit up when he talked about you. I know things went wrong between you, believe me, seeing your little brother's heart broken isn't easy to forget. And I know there were so many cause for what went wrong, but maybe one of them was just being too young and too afraid. (with some stubbornness and stupidity on both your parts being an element too, I'd say.)_

 _Don't be young and afraid and_ dumb _, Mark. If there's one thing I know now it's that there's just not time for it._

 _I know this too - no one,_ no one _, has made Eddie's face light up the way you did once. So that's why I am asking this of you: please take care of my brother, Mark. He's going to need it now more than ever, him and Wyatt both. I know this won't be easy but I think you're the kind of person who relishes challenges, aren't you?_

 _Please Mark, please._

 _I'm sorry I never got to know you better._

 _-Letícia_

 _PS: And just in case you decide not to follow your better angels, while Eddie is, of course, Wyatt's legal guardian, I've named you as the administrator of his sizable trust fund. That should help things along, eh? Good luck._

\--

Mark has almost forgotten Gretchen was still in the room until she clears her throat.

"When Mr. Saverin's sister passed away, her lawyers informed him of her _unorthodox_ selection for her son's trust. She left him a letter with instructions and she requested the letter you now hold be delivered to you. As per her request, no one else has read the letter you just read. _However_ , Mr. Saverin has already drawn up the paperwork terminating this arrangement." Gretchen pulled a sheaf of papers from her briefcase and set them on Mark's desk.

"Since Ms. Saverin did not seek your permission and you have no relation to or interest in the child in question, you will simply have to agree to terminate any involvement and cede all responsibility to the child's legal guardian, Mr. Saverin. I've noted where you need to sign. Of course, I know _you_ would never sign anything without having _your_ lawyers read it over, so I will return in 48 hours to collect the signed documents. Please have your counsel contact me with questions." She gives him one last appraising look then nods her head curtly. "Good day, Mr. Zuckerberg."

Before Mark can even get his mouth open to reply, she's pushing through his office door.

48 hours, huh? Mark's pretty sure he can rearrange work, get packed, get to New York City, and find out where Eduardo is in less than 12.

\--

Putting the timeline together on the plane, Mark realizes Wyatt is the likely reason he hasn't seen Eduardo in just over two years. It's not like after the lawsuit they saw each other constantly but seeing as how they were two of the the only three twenty something tech billionaires who were involved with social media, they did run into each other a time or two in a business capacity. But then Eduardo had just vanished. He stopped showing up to any conferences, events, summits, or charities. He was still working and investing but it was through many layers of intermediates. He fell off the face of the earth it seemed and Mark, well, that's when Mark set up the Google alert, that's when Mark started to really have time to think about what it would be like if he never saw Eduardo ever again, not even across the room.

But now Mark had an explanation. An explanation he was, to some degree, now legally responsible for. A two year old explanation named Wyatt.

\--

He was knocking on the door before he had time to think too closely about it. It hadn't been hard to get the address of the high-rise apartment where Letícia lived. It wasn't even hard to get past the doorman once he told him he knew all about Eduardo and Wyatt and poor, sweet Letícia and they weren't expecting him because he'd just heard the news and had flown in the second he heard. Now here he is, knocking on the door, unsure of what happens next.

The Eduardo who opens the door might as well be a stranger to Mark. Mark's Eduardo never had a hair out of place and wore three piece suits to the dining hall. _This_ Eduardo has blue-black circles of exhaustion under his eyes, his hair is messy, too long, and tangled. _This_ Eduardo is wearing sweatpants and a dirty shirt that looks stained with baby food half-tucked in. _This_ Eduardo has a screaming, flailing two year old boy riding low on his hip.

He looks at Mark with stunned disbelief. "No fucking way," he sighs.

\--

"Um, hi," Mark says, staring at Eduardo and the baby who must be Wyatt.

"Really? That's what you want to open with? _Hi_?" Eduardo bounces the baby up and down and looks at Mark with pure contempt. Wyatt keeps screaming and kicking. "Come in then, if I don't set him down and get some food in him the neighbors will call CPS." Eduardo turns and walks into the apartment without looking to see if Mark is following.

He is.

It's amazing how quickly Eduardo moves. In what seems like the blink of an eye he gets the screaming baby into a high chair, opens a jar of baby food, tucks a bib around the baby's neck, grabs a baby spoon from a kitchen drawer, pulls up a chair, and starts to hum a soft song under his breath in an attempt to coax the baby's mouth open. Mark feels like he's still standing in the doorway saying "Um," by the time the Wyatt spits his first mouthful of food all over Eduardo, who simply wipes it off with a cloth he somehow had tucked in his waistband and keeps going.

"I knew you'd come, ya know? I thought - I _hoped_ \- you'd just sign the papers and give them to Gretchen and that'd be that. But I think I knew you'd come," Eduardo zooms the spoon towards Wyatt's mouth and then finally turns to look at Mark.

Mark wants to say something profound or even just something that _attempts_ to explain what he's doing here in Eduardo's kitchen, why he just showed up, what he thinks he can possibly do to help or understand. But he realizes he doesn't have anything profound to say and he honestly doesn't know how he got on a plane and ended up here. So he says the simplest, the truest, thing he can think of. "I - I'm _so_ sorry about Letícia."

Eduardo's eyes fill with tears and he chokes out a low "Thank you," right as Wyatt flings his sippy cup to the floor and kicks his feet.

\--

They don't talk through the rest of Eduardo's attempts to feed Wyatt. Mark's not sure if Wyatt actually ate any food in between how much of it got sprayed on Eduardo, the high chair, and his bib. Finally, Eduardo sighs and caps the jar. He wipes halfheartedly at Wyatt's face and pulls off his bib, taking him from the high chair and holding him again on his hip as he starts to clean up.

Mark has literally no idea what motivates him to step forward reach out. "Hey, um," Eduardo swivels to look at him, as if startled by the noise, cleaning cloth in one hand a bouncing and still sticky with food Wyatt held in the other. "I can, uh, hold the baby - uh, Wyatt? While you clean up if you -"

Eduardo stares as if Mark has just begun babbling in Latin and grown another head. "You -"

Mark steps closer. "Arielle has a kid, you know. Besides, I think I am capable of holding a baby for ten minutes. When was the last time you got to clean something with both hands anyway?"

And in the second Eduardo leans open and puts Wyatt in Mark's outstretched arms Mark swears he sees the faintest hint of a smile cross over his frazzled face.

\--

Wyatt likes Mark.

Mark knows it from the second Eduardo places him in his arms. Wyatt reaches his sticky hands out for Mark and giggles. Then he kicks him and demands to be let down. "Down, down," he says.

Mark complies. "I'm just gonna let him walk, OK, see where he goes."

Eduardo, already hard at work trying to bring some order to the kitchen, calls out, "Don't let him -"

"Yeah, dude," Mark says, "I'll try not to let him run into traffic or stick his finger in a light socket. I got it."

He holds his hand out and Wyatt yanks at him, pulling him forward, smiling.

And then they're off.

\--

Wyatt's happily playing at his toy work bench, hammering away with great relish, and Mark and Eduardo are sitting side by side, silently, on a couch that was probably very expensive and high end before it sustained serious toddler wear and tear.

"So," Mark finally ventures, "what happened?"

Eduardo gives a rueful laugh. "Where to begin? Letty fell in love with Adam during the start of her last year of law school. It was wild about each other love at first sight. I liked him, Letty loved him, and it was perfect. Only Adam was born Elizabeth and my father didn't like that at all. He told Letty if she wanted him to keep paying for law school she was going to have to break up with Adam. Of course, you can just guess what Letty said to that."

Eduardo smiles at the memory of his headstrong sister and it makes Mark chest hurt in a weird way.

"So, naturally, Letty and Adam moved in together and it was all very romantic and, in a way, I was jealous of Letty for being able to walk away from my father that easily and - well. Adam started working two jobs and Letty went to school and I - it was happening during, um, you know, the lawsuit so I was all over the place, really, but I told them when I got some money, I'd help out. Um, then it was over and I ended up with _a lot_ of money and, uh, then my Dad, uh, disowned me _too_ so it really was just me and Letty against the world like we'd always thought and, really, I didn't mind because -"

It was clear Eduardo was hoping to rush through that part, maybe slip it past Mark. But Mark leaned forward, held up a hand. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Your father - your father disowned you? Was it -" Mark gulps, remembers _my father won't even look at me_ , "was it because of what happened with -"

Eduardo looks down, shakes his head. "No. No, once it was over, once he saw how much fucking money I ended up with, why then he was _happy_ , after all, money is what matters, right?" Eduardo's voice is bitter. He looks up and meets Mark's eyes. "No - he disowned me when I told him I was gay."

Mark's chest feels tighter than ever.

\--

Mark opens his mouth to say, well, something but Eduardo cuts him off and plows ahead. "Yeah, Dad was so happy to have both of us come out 'bent', right? But seeing Letty and Adam and after everything - the lawsuit - it just really makes you think about what _matters_ you know? I was tired of lying and - anyhow. Letty graduated from Columbia, she even passed the bar. I ... I spent a lot of time here, with Letty and Adam. I needed a place I could, you know, disappear into."

Mark realizes he's nodding his head in agreement. Mark knows. His disappearance was online, into lines of code and Facebook.

"And that's when Letty and Adam decided they wanted to have a baby. Letty was going to carry the baby but they were going to use Adam's eggs and a donor. It seemed like it was really early in Letty _and_ Adam's career, he'd just opened his own ceramic studio, but they were determined this was the right time. So they started the process. It was so much more grueling than I ever imagined, ya know? But it was - it was going to happen. And that's when, when, Adam - a random fucking chance, right? Hit on his bike and killed on the way home, like, like, that's how life is, you know? So fucking stupidly unfair and -"

Eduardo breaks off and swallows hard, looking away from Mark and over at Wyatt. Mark can see the tears shining in his eyes. Wyatt stops hammering and looks over at Eduardo, expectantly. "OK? OK?" Wyatt asks, his baby voice serious and sincere. Eduardo nods, roughly, and looks back to Mark.

"He never even knew the third round of IVF was a success and - and - Wyatt was on the way. He never knew. But - here was Wyatt. Here was Wyatt, a piece of Adam and I was with Letty the whole time and the night he was born and that was some kind of miracle, anyway."

Mark thinks of Letty's note about Wyatt's fingers and Eduardo's open heart. He thinks he can see it now.

"But then Letty got sick. Letty got sick and she kept getting sicker and - well, you know that part. I took care of her in the house until...we had hospice move in and it's absolutely grueling, cancer is, and how can any of this be _fair_? What's Wyatt going to - Adam and then Letty and how can this be _right_ and - fuck, Mark."

Eduardo's voice finally breaks and he covers his face with his hands and Mark knows he's crying, it's a low, awful sound. And before Mark knows what he's doing, he's reaching out for him and pulling him, with a quick, uneven jolt, into the world's most awkward hug. But it's only awkward for a few seconds because then Eduardo's arms are snaking around his waist and pulling him close and he's _sobbing_ into Mark's neck and Mark wonders who he had to weep with at Letty's funeral, if their parents even came, if there was anyone there who knew about Letty and Eddie and how a framed picture of the two of them was his only decoration from home in Eduardo's dorm room. He pats at Eduardo's back and hears himself saying, "Shhh, shhh," which seems stupid and just makes Eduardo sob harder and -

There's Wyatt, pulling at Eduardo's pant leg, his face concerned. "Wardo? Why cry, Wardo, why cry?" he pleads.

 _Wardo_ , the baby calls him Wardo, _not_ Eddie and why are Mark's eyes filling with tears too?

Mark doesn't want to let Eduardo go, so he keeps rubbing Eduardo's back with one hand and reaches out the other to run what he hopes is a reassuring hand through the kids thick, brown hair, which makes him pull in closer to them and cling to Mark and Eduardo's legs. Mark keeps his voice gentle and says to him "Hey, Wyatt, s'okay, buddy, we're all going to be OK, yeah?"

Mark wants to believe this.

\--

Eduardo had kept crying into Mark's neck, taking shuddery breathes, until Wyatt had begun to cry too, louder than Mark's one handed hair rumpling could soothe. Then, Eduardo had pulled himself out of Mark's embrace, wiped his face, and picked the baby up, bouncing him on his knee.

Then Mark had insisted Wardo take a fucking nap before he literally dropped from the exhaustion of being up for who knows how long combined with the release of a good, hard cry. It was obvious Wardo was worried about leaving Wyatt alone with Mark, but once _he'd_ stopped crying, he'd happily went back to playing. And Mark wasn't giving up on the nap. Besides, it was clear Wyatt liked him and Eduardo needed the sleep. Besides, how hard could it be for the highly successful CEO of a multi-billion dollar company to watch one two year old for a few hours?

\--

Mark is dripping wet and trying to remember why he thought giving Wyatt a bath was a good idea. Why hadn't he just been content to let him stay sticky and covered in baby food? What had he been thinking, that this was going to be as easy as hacking all the facebooks on campus?

Wyatt is currently trying to wriggle out of the bath for the thirteenth time (no, seriously, Mark's been keeping a tally) in fifteen minutes and is, in the process, splashing Mark in the face and giggling as Mark tries to hold onto to him.

"Wyatt, c'mon," Mark pleads, trying to dump some water on him to at least wash off the soap and shampoo he's covered in.

Wyatt, in response, slips out of Mark's grasp and then squeals with delight as he sends yet another wave of water flying towards Mark.

\--

"Now this should be the cover of _Time_ magazine," Eduardo says, softly.

Mark's eyes fly open and he tries to sit up but then he remembers there's a two year old asleep on his chest.

Mark squeezes Wyatt and stands up carefully from the couch where the two of them had been sprawled out asleep. He holds Wyatt close as he stands, not wanting to disturb him. But Wyatt is fast asleep ( _worn out from the bath and then running around while I tried to dress you, aren't you, you little monster_ , Mark thinks) and doesn't even stir when Mark sets him back down on the couch.

He and Eduardo walk away from the couch, Eduardo keeping a close eye on Wyatt.

"How long -" Mark begins.

Eduardo cuts him off, smiling. "Almost six luxurious hours. I even had time to take a shower and change into clean clothes, a real treat."

Mark's guessing he looks like Eduardo did when he first answered the door: more than a little disoriented and frazzled. He's got baby drool on his shirt, a Lego pattern on his face from where Wyatt fell asleep clutching one and with his hand pressed in Mark's cheek, and his pants are still wet with bathwater.

"Jesus Christ, Wardo," Mark says, slipping into the old nickname without even really noticing it at first, "how do you do it?"

Eduardo looks rueful. He runs a hand through his hair. "I dunno, Mark, I'm going to find out. I'm gonna ... figure it out as I go along."

For some reason, this answer is maddening to Mark. He wants _more_ than that; more than that for Wardo and more than that for Wyatt too. "You can't - that's not going to be a solution, man. You're gonna make yourself sick. You'll need to get some help, a live-in nanny maybe, but a daytime nanny at the very least. One person can't do - "

Wardo's face flushes. "Look, single parents raise kids all the time and that's without the advantage of having a few billion dollars, OK? I'm grateful you came out here and, uh, were here for me in an, um, awkward moment, but this -"

"Awkward? You want to call that _awkward_? It was more than awkward!" Mark shouts, suddenly very angry at Wardo's dismissal of the moment they shared on the couch.

"Whatever, Mark! The point is this is none of your business."

"Um, actually, as the administrator of Wyatt's trust fund, his health and wellness are directly my business."

Now Wardo's face pales. "Don't you even think to try -"

"I just want to make sure he's taken care of, Wardo, just like you do!" And the damnedest thing is, as Mark says it, he realizes how true this is. He thinks of Wyatt's big, brown eyes and Letícia's letter and he doesn't know exactly what makes him want to take care of this kid, but he knows he does. "I just want to make sure he has the best care and you'll be running yourself ragged and that's not fair to him -"

"Don't you dare," Wardo's voice is cold, unbending, "try to tell me what to do with my son."

"Your - your - wait," Mark's brain starts seeing everything like code, slotting all the pieces together. _Wyatt's big, brown eyes, Adam's eggs, donor._ "You - you - he doesn't look like you because you're his uncle, he looks like you because _you_ were their donor."

Wardo's eyes go wide but he doesn't look away. "Letty - she said this was the best way to start their new family, she said she and I were practically twins and this way the baby would have Adam's DNA _and_ her DNA and -"

He has to stop; he's gulping air and, Mark knows, trying to fight off more tears.

"Oh, Wardo," Mark says, his tone so full of wonder it's surprising even to him, "Your _son_."

And then Wardo looks up at him with pride and fear and shock and, most of all, _love_ in his eyes and smiles.

"We weren't going to tell him, you know, until he was old enough to understand. It wasn't like I was going to be the Dad - Adam was -" Eduardo gasps a little and looks away from Mark, gazes over to the couch where Wyatt is still sound asleep. "Even after - after that I was still going to just be Tio Eddie - and then - then Letty got sick and I didn't know _what_ was going to happen or _what_ I was going to do or _who_ I was going to be and he - he -" Eduardo draws another ragged breath and still won't meet Mark's eyes.

Mark feels his fingers itching to reach out, itching the same way they itch for a keyboard when he has a particularly good line of code in his brain and he wants to get it out immediately. He's just not sure what, exactly, they're itching for.

"Then he," Eduardo raises his eyes to Mark's again, "he started calling me _Wardo_ \- even though we'd never even said that name around him, he just started calling me that, and it sounded so _good_ after so long and I thought maybe it was a sign that my life, that things - but then she got sick, Mark, and it all went to hell and," Eduardo takes another halting breath "he still - he still cries for Letty and asks when she's coming home and -"

Before Eduardo can finish his sentence, Mark realizes what his fingers were itching for. How stupid could he be?

He grabs Eduardo by his wrists and there's no pulling this time because from the instant Mark's fingers circle Eduardo's wrists ( _the second they stop itching_ ) Eduardo just walks into his embrace and hangs on.

\--

"I don't know why I keep doing this," Eduardo sniffs and Mark can hear the tears in his voice.

Mark doesn't say anything, he's afraid to admit he doesn't have any real answers either.

Why did he fly across the country and show up at Eduardo's front door without a plan other than _make sure Wardo is alright_? Why did he sit on the floor and play blocks with Wyatt and then make sure he fell asleep in his arms? Why does he, a guy who's not really big on touching if you must know, keep reaching out and holding on to Wardo?

"Because you're sad and overwhelmed and it's OK to be sad and overwhelmed and - I dunno, because I'm here, I guess," Mark hopes his voice is the right mix of consoling and calm. He doesn't want to make it seem like just showing up, just being the guy who happens to be here at this moment is a _big deal_ or anything.

Then he feels Wardo's breath against his ear. "Don't _ever_ discount how much it means to 'be here.' That's no little thing, Mark."

Mark thinks of Palo Alto, how badly he wanted Wardo to just _be there_ , more than anything else, how much that would have said and changed. He thinks about what it must have meant to _not_ have your parents be there. He thinks about how it might feel to be alone with a baby you are now responsible for; a baby who was going to be your nephew but is now something more, maybe even your son.

Yeah, maybe _being here_ isn't as insignificant as Mark thought. Maybe all this is kind of a big deal.

Mark hugs Wardo tighter and feels him squeeze back.

\--

"This is the part where Wyatt wakes up and starts crying and we pull apart like we were never touching," Eduardo whispers.

Mark is too busy concentrating on how Eduardo's hands feel as they lazily trace lines up and down his back to answer. Their embrace no longer feels quite so comforting and desperate. (Well, OK, if Mark's being honest, it's starting to feel desperate but in a different way.)

"But since that doesn't seem to be happening -" Eduardo pulls back from the embrace, looks at Mark with something that might resemble a very small smile.

"I'm going to blame this on being exhausted and blinded by grief," Eduardo says, tilting Mark's chin up.

"I am not going to blame this on anything," Mark answers, leaning up and kissing Eduardo.

\--

They kiss. They kiss and kiss and kiss.

Mark frankly can't believe they never thought of kissing before. Weren't they both geniuses? How had this never happened before?

There's open-mouthed kisses and feather light forehead kisses - Eduardo rains a hundred kisses on every inches on his face, Mark licks into his mouth, tangles their tongues together.

They kiss and kiss and kiss.

\--

"We have to - " Eduardo gasps, "the baby, we have to stop before -"

"He won't wake up," Mark mutters, kissing down Eduardo's jaw, thinking about how amazing it would be to suck a blue-black bruise onto his neck. "He's exhausted from making me chase him around this place in circles for three straight hours."

Eduardo makes a noise that sounds suspiciously like a giggle, but then Mark moves from his jaw to his neck in earnest and the giggle turns in to a quiet moan that Mark can feel under his lips and that makes him even _crazier_ and -

That's when Wyatt wakes up.

\--

Later, after he's throw more peas and baby food all over Eduardo and played exactly 16 rounds of his new favorite game: _kicking over towers of blocks Mark builds while Wardo laughs and takes pictures_ , Wyatt finally lets Eduardo get him ready for bed. But he only consents without screaming if Mark stays in his line of sight.

Wyatt sleeps in Eduardo's bed and doesn't even make it all the way through _Goodnight, Moon_ (in Portuguese) before he's fallen asleep.

Mark and Eduardo sit on either side of Wyatt (how can a two year old sprawl so much that he seems to take up most of a California King?) and stare at each other in the near-darkness of the room. Mark watches Eduardo's gaze drift to Wyatt's face and he sees an expression of such pure love that it almost takes his breath away.

When Eduardo meets his eyes again he looks on the verge of tears once more. "This has been a really crazy day," he says very quietly, idly smoothing his son's hair from his face.

Mark nods in agreement, but that feels like the understatement of the century.

\--

Eduardo motions Mark out of the room. As they exit, Eduardo grabs a baby monitor and leaves the door ajar. Mark follows him down the hallway and back to the living room, which looks sort of like a toy store has exploded. Eduardo runs a hand through his hair and laughs, looking at the mess and then back to Mark. In just a few steps, he collapses on the couch and Mark suddenly feels how fucking _tired_ he is too - jet lag and chasing a 2 year old around and making out with his former best friend - it's been a long day indeed. He falls on the couch beside Eduardo and lets the exhaustion roll over him.

\--

They sit, side by side, in silence for a few minutes. Mark is almost drifting to sleep when he feels Eduardo rubbing his palm. He relishes the contact for a second and the reaches up to grab his hand. Sitting there, with only the electronic hum of the baby monitor in the background, holding Eduardo's hand - _Wardo's_ hand - Mark feels ... happy.

\--

"Mark," Eduardo says, "what - what did Letty's letter to you say?"

It's the last thing Mark's expecting and it should have been the first.

He really doesn't mean to say what he says next. "What did her letter to _you_ say?"

And that's how they end up, less than ten minutes later, reading each other's letters.

\--

 _Eddie,_

 _Where to begin? What can I say to you, my dearest friend, my oldest conspirator, my life raft in stormy seas?_

 _Thank you, thank you, thank you - thank you for the years of camaraderie and confidence and summers on the beach and whispering under covers about how Pai was wrong about us. Thank you for believing in my dreams and supporting me no matter what, for knowing my story - for always wanting to hear more. I can never thank you enough for taking care of Wyatt and taking care of me and never, ever, letting us down._

 _I am sorry I have to leave now, irmão, so much sorrier than I can ever say. But please know that I will be with you always, and not just through Wyatt._

 _Wyatt. Thank you for the gift of Wyatt, Eddie. Having two years with him, seeing Adam in him, this was a gift beyond all telling. Thank you for being there for him from the moment he was born. And thank you for what I know you will do_ now _: be an amazing father to him. Yes, it's OK for you to be his father, irmão. It is what Adam and I would want. Teach Wyatt who we were, Eddie, teach him to love and remember us, share with him how much we loved and adored and wanted him...but don't feel guilty about loving him as your own._

 _Eddie, do you remember the first time Wyatt called you Wardo? And you thought I didn't notice how your eyes filled up with tears and you tried to shake it off? I know that was because of Mark, Eddie. I know that was because you were_ his _Wardo. Some part of me will always hate that asshole for what he did to you, alright? But Eddie, if there's anything these past two years have taught me it's how stupid it is to waste a single second of your life. We just don't ever have enough time._

 _I knew you loved him from winter break you came home and couldn't stop talking about him. I knew it even more when I saw how you looked at him. You lit up, Eddie, and I saw that open heart you've spent so long trying to hide. I am sorry for everything that happened between the two of you, all the things I know and all the things no one but the two of you can ever know, but I've never before or since seen you light up, seen you smile in the same way, as I did when I heard you talk about or be near Mark Zuckerberg._ I think that means something _and I never thought it more than when I saw you break a little at hearing his name for you._

 _I want you to light up, Eddie. I want you to light up and smile and have someone to share your wide open heart with. (Maybe even someone who can help with Wyatt? Someone who'll take care of him while you get a few luxurious hours of nap time?) You deserve that, irmão - you deserve to be someone's Wardo again._

 _So, I've appointed Mark the administrator of Wyatt's trust fund. (yes, I know the fund is basically just your 5.5% share in Facebook, but it seemed fitting.) This might not last forever but, if nothing else, maybe this will bring him back in your orbit and you can see what happens next. I think it will. The thing is, Eddie, that night at Harvard I didn't just see the way_ you _were looking at him, I saw the way_ he _was looking back at you, even if neither one of you did._

 _Here's a funny thing for a big sister to say to a little brother, but I realize now how true it is: thank you for a lifetime of taking care of me, Eduardo, even when you didn't know you were. Now, please, let someone take care of you. I was lucky enough to always see it, but now you deserve a chance to show the world your shining heart._

 _Te amo,_

 _-Letícia_

 _Eddie & Letty forever!_

 _\--_

Mark is crying when he finishes and looks up to find Eduardo's face's also streaked with tears.

 _"Wardo_ ," he chokes out and then they are in each other's arms again.

\--

Later, after they've gone through a flood of tears holding on to each other, they stand side by side, looking out the huge living room windows to the glittering lights of New York City below.

"I have to know why you came here, Mark," Wardo says, his voice rough.

"I don't really know," Mark answers honestly. "As soon as I finished Letty's letter I knew - I thought of the night we had dinner and how she called you Eddie and her obituary didn't say anything about your parents and I felt stupid for only sending a card and - I just knew I had to get out here and see you."

"But _why_? We haven't seen each other since before Wyatt was born and - and - how did you even see her obituary in the first place? I didn't think about it when I got the card, there was so much happening but that was before you got her letter or the visit from Gretchen and -"

"I have a Google alert for your name set up, OK?" Mark cuts him off, not wanting to lie any more, not seeing any reason to conceal the truth.

"You ... what?" Wardo's voice is suddenly cold as ice and he takes a step away from Mark.

"I didn't want - you just disappeared, OK? You stopped showing up at the board meetings and fundraisers and tech conferences. You weren't writing editorials or investing in start-ups anymore and you - you just disappeared. Dustin and Chris didn't know, I knew you weren't in Singapore anymore and - I didn't _know_ about Wyatt and _you just disappeared_ and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life not knowing where you were. Even when you - when you hated me," Mark gulps, pauses for a shaky breath, "at least I knew where you were. It was OK if you kept hating me as long as I could still - I didn't want you to disappear."

Then there is only quiet and Mark hears the blood rushing through his ears and he wonders if that, maybe that, was finally too much.

"Oh Mark," Wardo says, stepping back towards him. "I never hated you. It was just really complicated and painful and awful. I always thought, _hoped_ , once we'd both had some time we'd meet up and apologize and realize that -"

"I'm sorry," Mark blurts, not waiting for Wardo to get any further. Those two words have been burning under his skin for longer than he can think about and it feels so good to say them. "Obviously, I'm sorry. I am sorry. I was sorry it happened like that, I was sorry I didn't talk to you about it more honestly, but I was so afraid. I was sorry you didn't understand it really was just business for me and I know that sounds like a shitty excuse but it's not really I-"

"Hey, hey, it's OK," Wardo says, reaching out for Mark's hand. "I'm sorry too. I'm sorry I didn't always listen, I'm sorry I acted out of jealously when it came to Sean. That didn't make me a great CFO. We - we were young, Mark. We made mistakes. That's why I always thought that maybe someday, maybe if we had time - I saw you at all those events too, you know. I didn't want you to disappear either it was just ... Wyatt. Wyatt happened."

Wyatt happened. Wyatt happened and now here they are, holding hands and both listening to the baby monitor _just in case_. Wyatt didn't make _that_ happen, but Mark knows he helped. He's only spent a day with him, but Mark can already see how Wyatt changes everything, how he changed Wardo. How, maybe, he could change Mark too.

"I'm so glad Wyatt happened," Mark says.

And when he looks at Wardo now, their hands intertwined, he sees a world of possibility in his eyes. "Me too," Wardo says, grinning, "me too."

\--

Wyatt wakes him up.

"Breakfast. Eat breakfast. Wanna eat breakfast, Wardo."

Mark blinks his eyes and rolls over on his side, watching Wyatt poke Wardo.

"Morning, little man," Mark says as Wardo makes a sleepy noise.

Wyatt, sitting upright, turns to face him. "'Nanas. Want 'nanas."

"Let's give Wardo a few extra minutes of sleep, huh? Me and you, we'll go see if we can find some 'nanas, OK?"

Mark opens his arms wide and Wyatt crawls over to him, slinging his arms around Mark's neck. "All ready, let's go," he says.

"Yes," Mark answers, as he slides off the bed with the baby in his arms. He's filled with an overwhelming sense of _rightness_. "Let's go."

\--

Almost a year later, Mark watches Wyatt squeal with joy as the Pacific Ocean chases him up a sandy, white beach.

Eduardo is less than five feet away, but he still shouts out "Bebê, be careful!"

"Ay, Papai Wardo! All fine!" Wyatt calls back dismissively, shaking a hand at him.

"I think," Wardo says, turning to Mark, who is standing right beside him "he's getting that from you."

Mark grins. "One can only hope."

Wardo tries to look disapproving as he leans over and kisses Mark cheek. "Moving out here was either the best or worst decision of our lives," he teases.

Mark hears Wyatt's laughter, thinks ahead to how he'll scream when they start scrubbing the sand off him, relishes the feel of Wardo by his side and in his life. "Totally the best," he answers back.

"Daddy Mark, Papai Wardo, c'mon," Wyatt motions to them to join him in the water.

"Yeah, probably," Wardo agrees, smiling at Mark, and then dashing off to join their son.

\--

One night Mark asks Wardo, "Do you ever miss when he was a baby?"

Wyatt will be six in a few months. Dustin is currently reading him his eleventh bedtime story of the evening as Mark and Wardo are cleaning up after dinner.

"Let's see," Wardo says carefully. "The sleepless nights? Constantly being covered in spit-up and baby food? The teething? The time he took his diapers off at Facebook headquarters and peed on the floor while you were coding in an update?"

Mark laughs. Wardo nudges him, affectionately, with his shoulder. "Yeah, of course I miss that sometimes."

"Sometimes I'm so sorry I missed out on the first two years of his life I just don't know how to stand it. Which I know is ridiculous because we have this now and - well. I was just thinking, is all."

"Yeah," Wardo says, his voice knowing. "Just thinking."

\--

Letícia Addison Saverin-Zuckerberg is born, via surrogate, a year later.

She smiles up at Mark and curls a finger around Wardo's hand. He's already coo'ing something softly to her in Portuguese and Mark - Mark can see his wide-open heart, sees their children and the life they built together there, shining for the rest of the world to see too. He wishes Letty and Adam were there to see it too.

He feels so lucky, he wants to cry.

When Wyatt, now seven, holds his little sister for the first time he has a look of awe and grave seriousness on his face.

"I'm gonna be the best brother there ever was," he promises Mark and Wardo.

"Don't worry, Wyatt," Mark assures him, "Pai Wardo can help you with that."


	5. Facebook

"You know, Facebook was like our baby and - and - the lawsuits were really a custody hearing and - uh - Sean was the mistress who lured you away and - uh - that means that we were the parents. We were Facebook's parents."

This is definitely the weirdest drunk dial of Mark's life.

"Eduardo, are you OK?"

"Am I - fuck yeah I'm OK, Mark. First, I got, like, half a billion dollars in the divorce settlement. Second, you had to acknowledge my paternity on the birth certifi-um the masthead. I live in Singapore now and, I'm, like, an international playboy. I can do anything I want.  Maybe I'll open a fucking bakery!  Shit, I could probably be recruited by the CIA or work as a high-class escort if I wanted." Eduardo slurs that last part and Mark hears a loud clunk on the other end.

"Wait - um - what? Eduardo, did you drop the phone?"

There's rustling on the other end, Mark thinks for a minute maybe Wardo hung up. "OK, I dropped the phone. But - whatever. The point is - I'm just calling to tell you that I was never an absentee father, OK!"

"Look, I know you're going to regret this in the morning so why don't you just go and get some water and maybe find a nice place to lay down and -"

"Hey, hey! Fuck you, Mark Zuckerberg! You don't get to order me around anymore, OK! I'm FREE! Yeah, yeah, maybe I'll start singing a Beyonce song about freedom. Which one is that one?"

"Beyonce?" Mark says, blankly, as Eduardo starts humming what Mark thinks is the chorus for [_Independent Women_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lPQZni7I18).

"Yeah - that's right! No more orders from Mark Zuckerberg telling me what to do!"

Suddenly, Mark isn't amused anymore. He's _angry_. "Hey! I don't - I _never_ ordered _you_ around. _You_ ordered ME around! Mark, you need to stop coding and eat food, Mark you need to actually go to class, Mark you have to sleep sometime, Mark don't hit on girls at parties if you don't know if their boyfriends are there, Mark apologize to Erica, Mark you need to shower more than once every four days, Mark make nice for these investors! YOU were the one who always tried to boss me around!"

But now that he's said it, Mark has a second to reflect that those were sometimes orders he _needed_ , things he was glad to hear, things that proved Eduardo cared about him. No one tells him to stop eating Twizzlers and Red Bull and pulls him away from the computer to "get some fresh air and real food" anymore. Which is fine. Mark is an independent woman too. (Or whatever.)

"I did everything you ever wanted, asshole," Eduardo's voice is anguished, sloppy and drunk. "Everything you ever asked, I gave you! I let you - I let you take the lead -"

"Bullshit!" Mark shouts. "You didn't come to California! You wouldn't - I told you - and you didn't! If you were a good father you would have been there to parent _with_ me!"

He braces for the next volley of angry words from Eduardo but instead hears ... laughter. _Real_ laughter, genuine, belly laughs. "Oh, Mark!" Eduardo wheezes out between laughs. And - and there's something about it that's, well, contagious.

This is all so fucking ridiculous - it's all misunderstanding and miscommunication and losing your best friend over something as useless as _money_.

Biting down on his lip to keep the laughter at bay, Mark throws out "And - and that's not a Beyonce song, it's a Destiny's Child song, dummy!  There's a difference!"

This just makes Eduardo laugh harder and before he knows it, Mark's joining in.

\--

They laugh, howling with laughter, until Mark has tears streaming down his face. In between Eduardo has begun to sing, off-key, _Independent Women_ and Mark joins in when he knows the words.

"Hey, fuck, I'm sorry I called you and -" Wardo eventually gasps, a little bit of the drunkenness that slowed his voice down still evident in his tone.

"Nah, man. Don't be this was - yeah. We should try this again, maybe, sometime?"

There's total silence on the other end. Eduardo either hung up or passed out. Mark's trying to determine which one would feel worse.

"Um, yeah. We should, maybe."

 _That_ feels pretty good.

\--

The next day, Mark has his assistant track down a Father's Day card.

"Mr. Zuckerberg, sir, it's September?"

"I have complete trust in your ability to find one, Janice."

She does.

Inside, Mark writes:

 _Dear Daddy 2,_

 _Stop drinking so much! And don't go off to be an international CIA escort serial killer bakery owner, it would make me almost an orphan!_

 _Love,  
Facebook_

A week later there's a Father's Day card from Singapore.

 _Dear Other Daddy,_

 _Stop coding all night and be asleep when drunk Daddy calls from 14 hours away. Start eating real food. Don't listen to Destiny's Child so loudly on your iPod you hurt your ears. Take care of yourself so you can take care of me._

 _xoxoxo,  
Facebook_

 _PS: maybe take a vacation sometime. It's good for your health to travel. Also, maybe, visitation should have been in the custody agreement._

Mark books the flight to Singapore that afternoon.

\--

Three months later, Mark asks Eduardo to come to California. For good.

"Well," Eduardo says, as if carefully considering, "It's not good for children to come from a broken home, so -"

Mark laughs and hauls him close for a kiss.

Three months after that, Eduardo proposes to Mark, getting down on one knee and slipping out a ring box. After the moving proposal about how he's never better than when they're together, about how he wants to spend the rest of his life changing the world with Mark, he opens the box and says, with a twinkle in his eyes, "Mark, the thing is - I like it. And [I wanna put a ring on it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY)."

And Mark's so fucking glad his life with Wardo is going to be filled with not just love and challenge and passion but laughter too.

They're gonna be the best parents _ever_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I've committed kid!fic! I blame this on [mrs_nott](http://mrs-nott.livejournal.com/) who asked over in the kink_meme for some kid!fic with "fluff and diabetes-inducing domesticity and maybe some hot sex" and I ended up fulfilling the first two and then dropping the sex for angst and giggles. Because you know how I roll. Thanks to everyone in the meme for the encouragement on this: my first real kid!fic was nerve-wracking, so I appreciate the support as ever!


End file.
